KUALA LUMPUR, April 25 (Bernama) — A special steering and implementing committee should be set up to ensure that halal certified medicines are prescribed to Muslims in the country, said academician.

Universiti Sains Malaysia dean of the School of Pharmaceutical Sciences Prof Dr Syed Azhar Syed Sulaiman said the committee could ensure that the pharmaceutical industry in the country would be transparent and committed in responding to the needs of Muslim consumers who were sensitive over halal issue.

He said the committee could work closely with monitoring agencies such as the Islamic Development Department (Jakim) in finding ways to resolve the halal issue in the pharmaceutical industry.

“We should be ashamed of ourselves as the halal pharmaceutical industry in the country is still lagging behind that of non-Islamic countries like Thailand and Belgium,” he said.

He was when presenting a paper entitled ‘Halal Medicine in the Pharmaceutical Industry: Steps Towards Production and Empowerment’ at the ‘Halal Food Crisis: Towards a Solution’ seminar here, Wednesday.